Deer Camp Heart and Loin in Onion Gravy
The first deer of the season, cooked down with three onions and a can of dark beer.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 11 oz
- cal / oz
- 49
- protein
- 45 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 30 min
- cook
- 60 min
- total time
- 90 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- One pot
- Grab and go
- Day one only
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Deer heart | 1 | cleaned, trimmed, cut into 1x2-inch strips |
|---|---|---|
| Deer inside loins | 2 | trimmed, cut into pieces the same size as the heart |
| Butter | 4 tbsp | |
| Vegetable oil | 4 tbsp | |
| Seasoned flour | 1 cup | Kentucky Kernel or any seasoned coating flour; keep it divided |
| Sweet yellow onions | 3 | sliced thin |
| Dark beer | 1 can | or 12 oz venison or beef stock |
| Salt and pepper | to taste |
Method
- Clean the heart first. Trim the fat off the outside, cut down the seam in the muscle and open it flat, then cut out the connective tissue and valves inside. Rinse it and slice into 1x2-inch strips.
- Cut the loins into pieces about the same size so everything finishes at once. Season both with salt and pepper.
- Toss the meat in half the seasoned flour. Shake off what does not stick.
- Set the dutch oven over a bed of coals, not flames. Melt half the butter with half the oil and brown the meat in batches. Crowd the pot and it steams instead of browning. Pull each batch out as it colors.
- Add the rest of the butter and oil, then the onions. Cook them slow over lower heat until they collapse and go brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Scrape the stuck bits off the bottom as they release.
- Sprinkle the remaining flour over the onions and stir it in for a minute so it loses the raw taste.
- Pour in the beer or stock and stir until the gravy thickens. Return the meat and any juices.
- Cover, pull most of the coals aside, and let it barely bubble for 30 to 40 minutes until the heart gives under a fork. Taste for salt before serving.
This is a first-kill camp meal, so it is built around the two cuts that will not keep: the heart and the inside loins. Both go bad faster than the rest of the animal and both are lean enough that fast, hard cooking turns them to leather. The answer is a coat of seasoned flour, a hard sear, and a long low simmer in liquid.
The onions are the actual recipe. Three of them cooked down for 20-plus minutes give up enough sugar to carry the gravy, and the flour that fell off the meat thickens it without any other help. Dark beer adds bitterness that cuts the fat from the butter; stock makes it rounder and sweeter. Cook it over coals, not open flame, or the bottom scorches before the heart is tender.
Packing
Heart and loins go in a cooler on ice, bagged separately and butchered at camp or at home. Onions, seasoned flour, and oil ride in the food box. Butter keeps in the cooler. This is a day-one meal; cook it the night it comes out of the field.
Variations
- No dutch oven: a heavy skillet on a grill grate works, but move it to the cool side to simmer.
- Beef stock instead of beer if you want the onion flavor forward.
- Serve over instant mashed potatoes made in a second pot with the gravy poured on top.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table-wild-game-recipes/deer-camp-tenderloins-and-heart-smothered-in-onion-gravy